Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849 eBook

The existence of the Esquerques, as we have already
stated, had been doubted, but from Captain Raynsford’s
exclamation, previous to the ship striking, we may
infer that he himself was not sceptical on the subject.
From whatever cause this fine frigate may have been
lost, the gallantry, at least, and self-devotion of
her commander, from the time the vessel first struck,
will rescue his memory from reproach.

There’s a prayer and
a tear o’er the lowliest grave;
But thousands lament o’er
the fall of the brave;
And thou, whose rare valour
and fate we bemoan,—­
In the sufferings of others
forgetting thy own,—­
O’er thy dust, though
no trophies nor columns we rear,
Though the storm was thy requiem,
the wild wave thy bier;
Yet thy spirit still speaks
from its home on the flood,
Still speaks to the gen’rous,
the brave, and the good;
Still points to our children
the path which you trod,
Who lived for your country,
and died in your God.

J.H.J.

Three hundred and fifty of the crew perished, while
one hundred and forty-one men, with two women, were
all who were saved.

THE NAUTILUS.

ONLY a few weeks after the loss of the Athenienne,
and of so many of her crew, a shipwreck occurred in
another part of the Mediterranean, attended by circumstances
of most painful interest.

His Majesty’s sloop, Nautilus, commanded by
Captain Palmer, left the squadron of Sir Thomas Louis
in the Hellespont, on the morning of the: 3rd
of January, 1807, bearing dispatches of the utmost
importance for England.

The wind blowing fresh from the north-east, the sloop
continued her course through the Archipelago without
danger or mischance, until the evening of the 4th,
when she was off Anti Milo; the pilot then gave up
his charge, professing himself ignorant of the coast
they were now approaching. As the dispatches
confided to Captain Palmer were of great moment, he
determined to run every hazard rather than retard
their delivery. He therefore sailed from Anti
Milo at sunset, and shaped his course to Cerigotto.
At midnight, the wind had risen to a gale; the night
was dark and gloomy; torrents of rain were falling,
accompanied by loud and incessant peals of thunder,
whilst vivid flashes of lightning ever and anon illuminated
for an instant the murky sky, and left all in obscurity
more dismal than before.

At two o’clock A.M., the tempest and the darkness
having increased, the captain gave orders to close-reef
topsails, and prepare for bringing-to until daybreak.
A little after three o’clock, a bright flash
of lightning discovered to them, the Island of Cerigotto
right ahead, and about a mile distant. The captain
considered his course to be now clear, and therefore
directed all possible sail to be kept on the vessel
without endangering the masts, at the same time he
congratulated Lieutenant Nesbitt upon their escape
from the threatened dangers of the Archipelago.